"Normal" glucose curve?

Here's a long speil of history, my main question is at the bottom. My guy Bentley went in for bloodwork to tackle a recently bout of inappetance, diarrhea, and frequent drinking and urination. This came at the end of a four week long course of doxy for an eye infection that wouldnt stop recurring. Since diarrhea has pushed his kidney values out of wack before, we suspected this was the cause. The kidney values came back almost identical to his last bout, but with the addition of anemia, assumed to be from the kidney issues.

The curveball was that his glucose came back at 240 in labwork done around 11 am, he ate before going in around 9. The vet said it didnt seem "diabetes high" but he hasnt recovered from the rear leg weakness and laying down immediately when he gets where hes going that came with the weight and muscle mass loss due to the diarrhea and the kidney level issues. This is despite supplementing all areas associated with CKD neuropathy (B12, potassium, adding in phosbind) and getting him back up to two 5 oz cans of food a day.

In the last 5 days he has developed laryngeal paralysis, which I know is rare in cats, but is often a marker of diabetes in dogs (presents as choking on "something" in his throat only when he tries to purr, causes loud labored breathing and sometimes a "honk". I discovered this when I thought he smelled kinda funny and sweet last night, and researched links between the symtoms. Inappetence is still an issue, not the extreme hunger usually associated with Diabetes, so we were really skeptical at first, but i want to do some home curves to keep an eye on him. The vet prescribed pred in hopes that some upper airway inflammation seen on his xrays may be exacerbating the laryngeal paralysis and improve his bowel situation.

I have picked up a glucose meter to do a baseline curve tomorrow, but im having trouble find examples of "normal" pre-insulin treatment glucose curves. I know there is no true normal, but i'm hoping to at least get a baseline for the expected range of varience throughout the day. He gets very stressed at the vet, so i suspect his levels in an office curve will not be accurate, not to mention a big cost on top of the labs and emergency visits we've alrady had. With his inappetance, he is being offered food every 4-6 hours 1/2 can at a time. We have gotten back to eating most of the offering at each serving, but he often moves off from it out of frustration at the effort he is putting in to eating, and needs to be reintroduced to it at least once, when he happily starts again.

So does anyone have preinsulin curves of a normal cat, or a cat that has gone into remission that still has detailed levels taken? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Normal blood glucose numbers for cats are 50-120 on a human meter

Your vet is correct though that 240 may not indicate diabetes. Just the stress of being at the vet can cause most cat's blood glucose numbers to go up....some up to 200 points!! That's why home testing is so important!

 

Thanks for the reply! Its a little strange, because this is the second time a vet has sent the bloodwork away certain he was diabetic from his symptoms, and had the results not be what he expected. The first time is was mostly muscle wasting and weakness, and Metronidazole resolved the GI issues that corrected everything. For the amount of neuropathy and lethargy he is experiencing this time he would have expected to see a way higher goucose reading, but better safe than sorry especially since we have him on pred now.

I was all set to move forward with whatever maintenance care was needed for his multisystem issues, but the laryngeal paralysis is keeping him from doing what he loves most. The one thing an old tired weak cat has to look forward to in the day is cuddles, and every time he tries to ask for them he starts to purr in anticipation, and the breathing difficulty starts. Its been so frustrating...

 

I'm sure it has been, but mostly for you. Remember, cat's don't "reason"....he doesn't put together that purring causes any problem with his breathing.

As for diabetes, if you start testing him at home, you'll be able to tell quite quickly if his numbers are elevated due to stress at the vet or if he truly needs to be on insulin.

The steroid can cause glucose numbers to be higher too, but if they're the only thing that works, you just work around them!

 

How high can I expect his numbers to rise on the steroids if he doesnt develop insulin induced diabetes, just to the high end of normal? I dont want to scare myself if its not unusual for an otherwise healthy cat to end up a little outside the normal range on them.

It actually does seem to be frustrating to him, too, just not for the same reasons. He comes to visit, starts to purr, and sometimes ends up leaving agitated when it gets too much for him, or goes into a little "episode" where we literally have to shock him out of the purr state with something unpleasant, like showing him the carrier, or turning on the water in the tub (he gets a lot of butt washing with his weak hind end). I hate to associate his positive intractions with us with those stressors, so we try to cut off and stagger petting before he builds to that stage, but sometimes they are all that works. I have read people dealing with this condition able to distract with treats and toys, or pinching and ear or paw, but his attention drive is so high nothing breaks his purr once he is set on affection.

 

Having trouble posting my results, but we have had 5 readings today, ranging from 66-124, most in the mid range. so I think we may have dodged the diabetes bullet. Given his CKD and IBD, i am breathing a sigh of relief. We will continue to test twice a week while he is on the pred, just to keep track of things.

Thanks again for all the information and great active community!